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USA Army – Apex Predators; Coyote Light Walker

So as much as we might pretend that it’s not the case, most of us are in this game for the new toys!

In this case Christmas has come early as not only did the USA get the Grizzly (more on that to come) but as one of the launch starter sets we also got our light walker, the Coyote.

First the kit; its a lovely clean model. Comes in 11 parts and as ever I’m very impressed by Warlord‘s resin work. Having seen kits from a number of places, this is very clean, well detailed and has pose-ability in mind.

The kit in bits – Coyote Light WalkerThe Finished Article – From the warlord games site

My built CoyoteThis is a mixed resin and metal kit, with ball and socket joints at the shoulder and hip. The accessories are very nice and on the Konflikt 47 facebook group we are already seeing a good variety of people’s mechs. Assembly and painting article for Lt “Jackal” Jameson’s mech will be up soon.

The Coyote in the game

If we turn to page 157 we can see the details of the walker and points costs. I personally don’t see any benefit of putting the experience level up to veteran, costing this about the same as a mid-range armoured car.

Good Points

Quite cheap – comparabile in points to a greyhound armoured car, this is going to be an ideal drop in for when more armour is needed but you dont have the points for the Sherman or Grizzly instead

Agile – nice and mobile when you want to throw it forwards

Assault and fists – paint it green and hulk out! With two fists and the assault rule, serious damage can be done

Drawbacks

Lower armour than it’s peers – as most people have realised as part of the game balance, the walkers are lower armour than their vehicle equivalents. This isn’t necessarily a game changer, but is worth bearing in mind with K47’s increased focus on anti tank availability.

One man walker – the Coyote can only fire one weapon per turn, this caps the ranged offensive output, makes the Coyote a support piece and rarely the lynchpin unless the circumstances are right.

Lack of anti-tank – this is also a big drawback. One of the real boosts of the armoured car slot is the anti-tank capability, which this walker lacks entirely.

Overall role

The Coyote seems to be designed for infantry area denial, it can pretty reliably put out pins and maybe a couple of casualties and has more resistance than a typical weapon team and more mobility.

As far as I can see the Coyote is going to be part of a team or a wider plan. It doesn’t have the Recce rule and isn’t heavy enough to survive on its own, as much as I enjoy plans that involve the sentence “and hope they miss a lot” it’s not ideal.

My plan is it keep it near troops as a mobile support platform and take any opportunities to use it in combat as possible. Ideally I want it to be taking the hits and fights I don’t want to see impacting my infantry, such as tanks and other walkers.

It’s getting its first run out on soon, I’ll report back after that.

If anyone has any suggestions for how they’ve found the walker, feel free to share below!